Construction figures from BMD captured alongside alleged bikie at traffic stop, reading newspaper

Australian infrastructure giant BMD is facing serious allegations senior figures may have not cooperated with police and even perjured themselves amid evidence given to Queensland’s CFMEU inquiry about an alleged bikie-linked plot to threaten a union activist.

After a week of hearings led by the probe around the suspected standover of a CFMEU member by Melbourne-based figures, and other alleged bikie links to the firm, the union’s administrator has also called out the lack of action by BMD against the staff.

“BMD is the only company to have been awarded a contract for the Olympics. It has not removed the senior executives who the evidence suggests had knowledge of the use of Comancheros to threaten the CFMEU delegate,” Michael Crosby said in a statement.

Counsel assisting the inquiry spent most of this week’s three-day hearing block laying out an alleged standover plot that saw the Melbourne group travel to a Brisbane bridge upgrade site, where one member threatened arson and murder, before an attempted cover-up by BMD figures.

Commissioner Stuart Wood on Thursday described the latter as a “very serious allegation” and asked inquiry lawyers to advise him during the next relevant public hearing what they were doing about the “perhaps deliberate lack of co-operation with police” by not providing or deleting footage.

While Wood acknowledged the early stage of evidence, he also floated the idea with counsel representing BMD, chief executive Scott Power, and the senior figures who have already appeared as witnesses, of the need for separate representation due to conflicting interests.

This was on the basis, Wood said, that one of the Comanchero-linked trio from Melbourne – Bemir Saracevic – “at first blush” appeared guilty of threatening the CFMEU member, with Gary Samuel – head of BMD security contractor Host – potentially guilty of conspiracy to such a crime.

If this was the case, depending on what senior BMD figures Robert Pickard and Steve Thomas were found to have known beyond the “extensive” but circumstantial evidence, there “might be some suggestion” that pair could also face such a charge, or of giving false testimony to the inquiry.

Thursday’s hearing began with Thomas, BMD’s human resources and industrial relations manager returning to the witness stand. Like his colleague Pickard, he denied knowledge of the plot and said he could not recall many of the incidents that he was asked about.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Eddy Gisonda, KC, then played police body-worn footage for the inquiry of Thomas at a traffic stop with William Samra in August last year, in which the pair say they had been meeting for work, including what Thomas described as “security work”.

The footage, across three separate clips, shows Samra telling police he was “trying to get into” the construction field, and that Thomas was driving him home.

The inquiry was later shown news reporting describing Samra as an “alleged Comanchero bikie” and secretary of the outlaw motorcycle gang – links Thomas said he was not aware of at that time.

Thomas said he was introduced to Samra by Samra’s father Andre in May or April of that year, and the pair were meeting for a “social catch-up” when stopped by police.

Andre Samra had previously introduced Thomas – who he knew through his work for Host on the Albanese and Queensland government-funded $350 million Centenary Bridge upgrade – to the owner of a separate security firm, the inquiry heard.

On Thursday, Thomas disputed William Samra’s comments in the video that the pair had known each other for some time and “do a bit of work together”, saying they had mutual friends who played rugby and went to school at Gregory Terrace – which he told police.

Thomas agreed he had been nervous during the traffic stop, but denied this was because he had been caught in the car with someone he knew to be allegedly connected to the Comancheros.

“Not at all. It was simply the way I was handled [by police],” Thomas told the inquiry. Gisonda said there was no suggestion of wrongdoing by Thomas in relation to the traffic stop.

CCTV footage was then shown of William Samra meeting Samuel and Matthew John Lucas at a coffee shop in Heathwood on Brisbane’s west on June 3 last year, with a copy of The Age from May on the table.

Samuel can be seen pointing to the masthead’s reporting of Victorian government intelligence that firms linked to the underworld had been involved in that state’s Big Build infrastructure pipeline.

The article names Saracevic and Krstomir Bjelogrlic – two of the Comanchero-linked figures accused of travelling from Melbourne for the 2024 standover of CFMEU crane operator Cody Raymond, who the inquiry heard was suspected of leaking information to the union.

Australian Workers Union-aligned BMD hired Samuel and his company Host earlier that year to counter the CFMEU’s campaign against the contractor on the bridge project. BMD recently won the contract to undertake early works for the new Brisbane Stadium Olympics venue.

Thomas denied knowledge of any connection between Samuel and William Samra or having ever spoken to Samuel about him. Samuel has previously told this masthead his company was law-abiding and had no links to organised crime.

Despite Thomas and Pickard’s evidence, Gareth Davie – a manager with Georgiou, BMD’s joint venture partner on the Centenary Bridge project – later told the inquiry he was sent a list of people who had accessed CCTV footage of the alleged 2024 incident by Thomas.

While he could not recall whether Thomas asked him to delete footage, he said he was asked to limit access to it. In an email to colleague Quinn Murray, Davie also said BMD chief executive Scott Power was “misleading” when he told staff there was no link between Samuel and bikie figures.

Also giving evidence on Thursday, Murray – the joint venture’s project manager for the bridge upgrade – said the footage may not have seen the light of day if he had not saved it to his computer while undertaking early investigation of the incident before his access was revoked.

Murray said he thought it was “difficult to assign to coincidence” the fact Pickard and Thomas had emerged from a carpark near the site only moments before the Melbourne-based figures followed them and confronted Raymond.

The inquiry heard Raymond’s employment was eventually terminated by Georgiou after its internal investigation concluded and he was ordered to return to work, but failed to do so, following extended leave taken in the aftermath of the incident.

BMD, approached for comment by this masthead earlier this week, has said through a spokesperson: “BMD has additional representatives to appear over the coming days and it would be premature for us to comment”.

Hearings continue next week.

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